


For the History Books

by animmortalist



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Absolute Dorks, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Professors, Secret Marriage, Secret Relationship, art history professor!clarke, history professor!Bellamy, like TOOTH ROTTING fluff, more like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26149609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animmortalist/pseuds/animmortalist
Summary: It's Clarke's idea to keep the fact that her and Bellamy got married over the summer a secret. She figures it won't be a problem, and it's not. Until Bellamy starts auditing her class.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 25
Kudos: 261





	For the History Books

**Author's Note:**

> hello, loves! this one's another repost from my old account. I did edit it a small bit, but it's relatively the same, so if it feels similar, that's why!
> 
> this one was just so fun to write, and honestly, is so fluffy and fun I really wanted to re-share it. hope you enjoy it!
> 
> sending all the love and good thoughts your way 💞💞💞

It had originally been Clarke’s idea to not wear their wedding rings outside of the house. When she’d first asked Bellamy if he thought it was alright, it seemed like a perfectly good idea. Their engagement and wedding had all taken place in the summer, a whirlwind of promises and love and just  _ them.  _ All of it far away from the eyes of the other faculty at the university and neither one was interested in letting those in anytime soon. 

They’d been married only a month, and she wasn’t ready for all of their coworkers to be asking invasive questions or deal with what  _ her mother _ would have to say about it. For a little while, she wanted to keep it for her and Bellamy. 

He’d agreed too. The idea of all the other professors and administrators knowing about it stressed him out. While they both had just secured tenure, the idea of the university trying to gain donors or funding by branding them freaked him out a little. 

They knew they’d have to tell everyone eventually, but for now, they were happy with just their small circle of friends knowing about it. 

It was a harmless idea, she’d thought. Nothing was going to come from it aside from their own peace of mind. 

* * *

That semester, Clarke had a Monday ten AM Intro to Modern Art class. Even though she insisted he didn’t have to since he didn’t have office hours until twelve, Bellamy drove her every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

At the beginning of the year, he’d been busy getting everything together for his students. By October though, she could tell he was getting bored. 

“What if I audit your class?” he asked one night over dinner. 

He cooked. She supervised, which really meant she distracted him with tidbits about her new students and antidotes she thought would make him laugh. 

She snorted. 

He pouted a little. It was adorable. “I’m serious.”

She couldn’t believe it for a moment. While there was a lot of overlap in their fields, Bellamy had never been interested in the more contemporary aspect of her work.

“Since when have you been interested in modern art?”

“Maybe I’m trying to expand my interests,” he said.

She raised a brow. 

He sighed. “Or I’m incredibly bored in my office and I need something to occupy my time or I may begin trying to build my own Roman city out of office supplies again.”

God, it really  _ was _ that serious. 

She considered it for a minute. There could definitely be complications, but...It was too tempting.

“Well, I have a grad student from the Political Science Department who’s auditing, too so...Why not?” She grinned. “It’ll be fun.” 

“Yeah?” He asked. “Because I won’t do it if you’re uncomfortable or think it’s a bad idea or—”

“Bellamy,” she interrupted. “I think it’s a great idea. Hell, you don’t even really have to go through the paperwork of auditing it. Just come by. Learn about Dali and Pollock and Frida Kahlo.”

He scrunched up a brow. “Is it wrong I only know one of those names?”

She laughed and said, “I hope it’s Frida Kahlo.”

“And if it’s not?” There was a bit of a glint to his eye and she flushed a little at what it implied. 

“I don’t know,” she mused. “There may be consequences.”

“Like a punishment?” 

The look he was giving her was goddamn sinful. She chewed on her lip for a moment and he swallowed thickly. 

She smirked. “I’m sure I can think of something.”

Thoughts of finishing dinner and curling up to watch a movie were quickly abandoned as other activities became more intriguing. 

Yeah, maybe the switch from their usual who told who what to do was a little bit of a turn-on for her. Sue her. Have you  _ seen  _ her husband? 

* * *

Bellamy sitting in on her class turned out to be both the best and the worst thing that ever happened to her. 

For one, she couldn’t help but have fun with him while he was there. He made it far too easy for her to slip into light teasing. Sometimes, she got nervous that her students were picking up on their pseudo-flirting, but she’d quickly reassure herself that they were more subtle than she thought. 

She worried it might’ve been a weird adjustment, but when she used him to get some insider knowledge about her students, she was able to adjust the class accordingly as needed. It was actually quite helpful. 

He also happened to be a great student: thoughtful and intuitive, encouraging others to speak up. A leader, but by no means domineering. Not to mention that he was doing _ all  _ of the readings _ ,  _ which she couldn’t believe. 

When she’d asked him why he’d shrugged and replied, “I like it...I don’t know. I like learning about the stuff you love, seeing why you care about it. I never understood this kind of thing before, but through your eyes, I get it.”

They didn’t really talk much after that because what kind of wife would she be if she didn’t kiss him the second those words left his mouth?

The more the semester went on, the more she realized that Bellamy was her star student. By early November, nearly everyone else had taken a liking to him, too. 

Including Echo, the political science graduate student who was auditing the class. The other woman was subtle, she’d give her that, and she really only flirted with Bellamy in the ten minutes before class started. She seemed to respect that class time, even for someone auditing, wasn’t a time to be trying to get some. If only Clarke had followed her advice towards the beginning of the term. Bellamy never encouraged Echo, though she did wonder if he even knew she was hitting on him as frequently as she was. He was sometimes nearly adorably confused by the smirks she’d give him or the tone she’d use. 

Clarke wasn’t bothered by it. She knew he’d never do anything, never even  _ think  _ about doing anything. So, honestly, it was sort of amusing, watching him try to diffuse the situation when he did pick up on what Echo was doing. 

One time, he’d looked at her fleetingly for help, but she’d shrugged so lightly so as not to draw attention to herself. The resulting look he gave her made her have to bite her cheek to keep from laughing. 

On a Friday night, when they were watching the newest Ken Burns documentary, he told her, “You could save me once in a while, you know.”

She laughed. “And where would be the fun in that? Those ten minutes are the highlight of my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

“Wait,” he paused the show, his brow furrowing. “Is it before  _ every  _ class?”

She kissed the crease between his brows. “Yes. You’re very oblivious.”

He pinched her cheek and she swatted at him.

“In a cute way,” she said. 

“I’m sure,” he replied. 

“Isn’t my opinion the only one that matters?” she asked.

He grinned and pulled her into his lap. She had to restrain herself from melting into him immediately. It may not have been an actual fight, but she still wanted to win. 

“Why would that be?” he challenged. 

“Because…” she grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck so they were closer, their chests almost pressing together. “I’m your wife.”

He whined a little, deep in the back of his throat, and kissed her. When she tried to take off her shirt though, he moved her out of his lap, laughing a little as he pressed to resume the documentary. 

“Sorry, dear. Ken Burns waits for no man. Even when that man has an incredibly hot wife.”

“Seriously? Documentaries over dirty sex with your spouse?” She scoffed, but she wasn’t actually annoyed. 

If she was being honest with herself, she wanted to finish it that night, too. Sex be damned. 

“Well,” he said, smirking. “I was assuming that said dirty sex would follow the documentary.”

“Oh, well, in that case.” She leaned into his side and he shifted his arm so that it was wrapped around her. “Octavia is going to be so mad.”

He snorted. “There are a million reasons why that could be, how am I supposed to know which one it is?”

“You’re turning me into a complete nerd. The kind that wants documentaries over sex.”

“Documentaries  _ before _ ,” he corrected her. “Very different.”

“I didn’t say  _ I  _ was mad about it,” she replied, smiling. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I could do this for the next fifty or so years. You know, if you’re game.”

He gave her a light kiss and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I never could resist a good documentary.”

“Followed by some sex,” she added.

“Let Octavia be mad. It seems like a pretty perfect deal to me.”

She smiled and snuggled in even closer. “Me too.”

When they told Octavia over brunch the next morning how they’d spent their Friday night, she lobbed a piece of hash brown at them. 

* * *

As they neared the end of the term though, Echo became brasher in her attempts to signal her interest to Bellamy. It seemed she may have believed that he was just shy and holding back, or maybe she had picked up on his slight obliviousness. It wasn’t just before class now but after as well. Regardless, it was getting to where even  _ he _ couldn’t misinterpret when it was happening. 

They tried to come up with a way to let her down easily on their own, but nothing they tried worked. It seemed Echo was a determined woman. Which Clarke sympathized with. If she was in her position, she’d probably act similarly. 

Eventually, it got to the point where they decided to outsource the problem to the group in the hope of finding a solution over drinks at their local bar. 

“Severe. Be brutal. Go for the jugular,” Murphy told him, gesturing with his beer bottle. 

Bellamy looked a little pained and glanced at her to see what she thought. 

“That’s certainly one tactic,” she added. “But I think Bellamy doesn’t want to destroy the woman. He just needs to signal to her he isn’t interested.”

“Without revealing that he’s married so you too can keep in on the D.L., right?” Octavia asked. 

They nodded.

“You’re fucked,” she said after a moment. 

“Thanks, O. Really feeling the support.” Bellamy glared at his sister, who shrugged. 

“Why don’t you just tell her you’re married but not to Clarke?”

Clarke frowned into her beer. 

“We don’t wear our rings to work. If Bellamy started just wearing it to my class, there could be questions and then it could get back to the faculty and then—”

Jasper nodded. “The gig would be up. Plan: ruined. Marriage: exposed.” 

“Exactly,” Monty said. “Operation Concealed Nuptials failed.”

“Cute,” Raven told them. “But unhelpful.”

Clarke nodded, and they sighed, almost in unison. 

“What if you just told you weren’t interested?” Harper asked, dubious. “It seems like the easiest option.”

“I’ve been trying,” Bellamy told her, “but I think she must think I’m just awkward or something.”

“You are,” Octavia said, and then raised a hand, “but I understand that was not your point.”

“Okay…” Harper trailed off. “But have you said something along the lines of the actual words, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m just not interested in you like that’?”

The silence around the table spoke of the quiet awe they all had for Harper.

When they didn’t reply, she snorted and took a sip of her wine. “You are hopeless. Jesus, it’s a miracle you got married.”

“I like it to think it’s a miracle, too,” he said, turning to Clarke.

She grinned and blushed a little.

Their friends let out a chorus of groans and gagging noises. Murphy threw a peanut at them. 

“Nobody wants to  _ see  _ or  _ hear  _ that,” Miller said. 

“Save it for where other unspeakable things occur,” Octavia told them. 

Bellamy rolled his eyes.

“And I didn’t even mean  _ that _ ,” she added. “I mean when you guys watch boring-ass documentaries together like you’re each a hundred years old.”

“Wait,” Emori jumped in. “I thought that was a joke.”

Bellamy defended them. “It was a really good documentary, you guys.”

That made them all groan even more than before. Clarke just grinned and leaned into his side. 

While ideas for how to help Bellamy were quickly abandoned in favor of making fun of their choice in nightly activities, she felt certain that Harper’s advice would work. Then, they could move on from this. Probably laugh about it occasionally. Maybe even go back to vaguely flirting in class until the term was over.

They didn’t plan on Bellamy’s spectacular failure to shut it down at long last. 

* * *

The next Monday, Echo arrived only a minute before class started, so Clarke knew the awkward conversation was going to have to happen at the end of class instead. Which would make it much harder for her to listen in to make sure she didn’t have to watch Bellamy squirm for the last three weeks of class. 

She was pretty sure she managed it alright. On purpose, she spilled the contents of her bag on the floor and tried to make it not obvious that she was eavesdropping. 

“I feel bad for everyone else that isn’t auditing, they actually have to suffer through the final,” she heard Echo say. 

“Yeah, but I don’t know...Is it wrong I’m kind of bummed I don’t get to show off what I’ve been learning?”

She grinned a little at the floor. He’d been showing off what he’d been learning, actually. Every night for a week straight. 

“Poor kids’ll be studying all weekend,” she said. 

There, Clarke thought, the perfect opening. 

“Can’t envy that. I’ve got something pretty sweet planned.”

They were going to spend the weekend at the beach. They’d rented a house that looked like something out of a storybook. It was a little cheesy and not at all something she had imagined herself being into but...She couldn’t wait. 

“You got big plans this weekend?” Echo asked, her tone not faltering in the way that someone who was being rejected should’ve, Clarke thought. 

“Yep. Been in the making for a while.”

It was true. He’d surprised her with the trip a couple of nights before. She’d been worried they’d both be too busy getting ready for their students’ finals, but he assured her they deserved a break. She was wondering if there wasn’t something important he wanted to discuss while there though, something she herself had been thinking about since August. 

“Really?” Echo’s voice was thick with intrigue. The flirty kind. 

For the first time since this whole thing had started, she felt  _ jealous _ . Or maybe that wasn’t the right word. She knew Bellamy was hers, had no doubt about that. Rather, she wanted her to know that. Maybe she wanted everyone to, she realized, the more she considered it. Sometimes, she  _ did  _ get pissed when whoever was checking them out at Trader Joes also checked out her husband, too. 

Maybe hiding it wasn’t what she wanted anymore, even though it had been her idea in the first place.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t make out the rest of the conversation between the two of them, at least, not until...

“I’m married,” Bellamy blurted out. 

Clarke banged her head on the table and cursed loudly. 

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, emerging from underneath it. 

“Oh. My. God,” Echo said. “I thought that you were saying the plans….Oh, fuck. You weren’t trying to ask me out. You were trying  _ to let me down easy. _ ” She shook her head. “I’m such an idiot. God.” 

The woman started to spiral, and she sensed that Bellamy was helpless to do anything to help. 

“It’s not you,” Clarke couldn’t resist saying as she stood up from under the table. “He’s a...Total mess at this kind of thing.” It was the truth, after all. 

Echo glanced at him, and he nodded. “Completely. Even my colleagues know about it. That’s how bad it is.”

“Totally random colleagues, too,” she added. 

Echo narrowed her eyes at the two of them. She felt like she was under a microscope under the other’s gaze for a full moment. Then, the other rolled her eyes and scoffed. 

“You could’ve told me you two were married the first day, you know?” she asked. “It’s not like it’s a big deal.”

“What?” Bellamy asked. His voice was a little pitchy. 

“We’re not married,” she said hurriedly. 

God, they really were pathetic. 

She snorted. “It makes so much sense now. I thought you two were a thing or something when the class first started, but then you stopped flirting so much so I told myself I’d gotten it wrong.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” she protested.

The other woman gave her an incredulous look. “And neither was I.”

She swallowed and glanced at Bellamy, who gave her a slight nod. 

“We might be a little bit married,” she admitted. 

Bellamy choked on a laugh, the traitor. 

“How is one a little bit married?” he asked her. 

She opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by Echo’s biting laugh. 

“God, I should’ve seen it sooner. You’re obvious.” 

Bellamy got a little twitchy. “We are?” 

She nodded. “Hell yeah. While I was trying to figure out how awkward you really had to be to not pick up on the signs I was throwing your way, the rest of the class was betting on if you’d banged or not.”

“Awesome,” Clarke let out. 

“Don’t worry,” Echo said. “They’re terrified to fail your final, so they still respect you.”

That did make her feel a bit better. 

“I’m guessing I’m not supposed to tell anyone about this though, right?” she asked. 

Clarke thought about it for a minute, then risked a glance at Bellamy, who was already looking at her. He shrugged. She knew her answer immediately. 

“You know what? Spread the word.”

“You’re not just saying that because I tried to make a move on your husband, are you?” Echo asked, her tone light. 

Clarke laughed. “Maybe only like fifty percent.”

“Fair enough,” she said, and then looked at Bellamy. “And dude, next time someone literally hits on you in front of your wife, just tell her you’re not interested.” 

“Noted,” Bellamy replied. “I didn’t want to mess with the class dynamic.”

“I flirted with you in front of your  _ wife _ , I think the class dynamic would’ve survived just fine without that.” He hung his head a little and she jostled his shoulder. “Though I suppose I am rather one-track-minded with this kind of thing, so I’ll take half the blame.” 

“Thanks, I think?” He got out. 

She smirked. “You bet.” Then she turned to Clarke. “And I know it’s not my marriage, but really, he should wear a ring.”

Clarke grinned at Bellamy, linking her hand with his. They’d get through the questions and the possible using them to get donors, and God,  _ her mother.  _ Like they always did: together. “Couldn’t agree more.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading ❤︎
> 
> find me on tumblr (@animmortalist)


End file.
